


Following in Mater's footsteps?

by Dr_Hoffmans_Mechanic



Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, Mention of Xenia/Myrrine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-07
Updated: 2019-02-07
Packaged: 2019-10-24 00:02:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17693711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dr_Hoffmans_Mechanic/pseuds/Dr_Hoffmans_Mechanic
Summary: Things are going swimmingly when Kassandra visits to catch up with Xenia, right up until they're not.





	Following in Mater's footsteps?

“You look so beautiful little misthios. Have I told you how beautiful you look like this? Riding me like Pegasus?”

Kassandra opened her eyes and gazed down, sweaty and smiling, at Xenia.

Without breaking rhythm she reached down and gently traced the deep scars that broke the lines of the pirate queen’s lips before leaning forward and replacing her fingers with her mouth.

“You are magnificent yourself, your majesty,” she smiled playfully.

Sitting up, she braced her arms firmly against Xenia’s powerful shoulders and resumed rocking hard against the fingers deep inside her.

Xenia’s belly heaved with laughter, making Kassandra glad she was holding on.

She was so close now, lost in the rhythm of the chase, sweat rolling down between her breasts, clutching hard at her lover’s shoulders.

“Are you close my West Wind? You look as though you are close, my sweet,” Xenia smiled up at Kassandra.

..."you look as though you are close, my sweet”..."close, my sweet”…

And just like that it was gone.

The pre-release tension in her belly melted to a cold chill and she fell still.

Xenia noticed instantly.

She had been clutching hard at Kassandra’s hip with her free hand, now she quickly relaxed her grip with a look of concern.

“What is it, precious one? Did I hurt you?” she began to rub Kassandra’s hip soothingly. “I am sorry. I was lost in your beauty, I forgot my own strength...”

Kassandra reached down and placed two fingers against Xenia’s lips, stilling any further apology.

“No, no, you didn’t do anything wrong Xenia, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, tell me what is troubling you,” Xenia reached up to cradle Kassandra’s cheek in a powerful hand. “Do you want to continue? Or should we stop for now?”

“I need to stop for a little while,” Kassandra raised herself a little, allowing Xenia to carefully withdraw her hand.

She casually sucked her fingers clean, wiped them dry on the sheet and helped her lover to move from straddling her hips to lying down beside her.

“Are you sure that I didn’t hurt you, my treasure?” Xenia repeated, turning her head to catch Kassandra’s expression in the dim warmth of the fire-lit room.

“For the last time Xenia, I am not so fragile,” Kassandra gave a short laugh.

“No, no! I know you are not,” Xenia raised her hands in a playful gesture of apology. “You are a strong, powerful woman. It’s like having a little lion in my bed. But just because you are strong doesn’t mean you can’t be hurt. Your scars are testament to that. I apologise, however, for suggesting you might be fragile.”

“Your apology is accepted,” Kassandra smiled. “Though...did you call me a lion cub?”

Xenia laughed heartily, rich and warm. She wound an arm around Kassandra’s shoulders, pulling her close.

“Let it be our secret, my little cub,” she turned her head to press a kiss to her lover’s temple. “Now we have established that I didn’t hurt you, would you tell me why you stopped? I was under the impression our reunion was going well.”

There was a long pause where Kassandra lay frowning up at the ceiling.

Xenia knew her well enough to wait quietly and not probe.

“I was thinking of my mother,” she said at last.

An awkward silence fell between them at this. It was Xenia who eventually broke it.

“Well…” she began, cautiously, “I suppose that is _my_ fault for bringing up the subject in the first place.”

Kassandra frowned up at the ceiling, puzzled by the comment.

“So, my sweet,” Xenia continued, “is it that you want me to call you "Myrrine" while we...? ”

“What?!” Kassandra’s raised herself on one elbow to gaze down at the pirate. Her frown was quite deep now.

Xenia picked up on her genuine puzzlement and smiled, relieved.

“Or do you want to call me Mater?” she teased.

“What the...no! Eew Xenia,” Kassandra reared back a little."What in Hades! I wasn’t thinking about fucking my mother!”

“Well you wouldn’t be the first,” Xenia began, then quickly started to correct herself.

“I mean the first person to think about fucking _their_ mother, not to think about fucking _your_ mother...though she is a very attractive woman...” she tailed off thoughtfully. “And I did a lot more than think...”

“Can you stop talking now?” Kassandra punched her shoulder. “It’s troubling how often we end up in bed talking about my mater.”

“In my defense, you _did_ start it this time,” Xenia laughed.

“And there’s nothing wrong with a little fantasy in the bedroom,” the bed shifted considerably as she moved to get up.

“I agree, but I’d prefer it if we could keep my mater out of it all the same," Kassandra hitched herself up to sit back against the pile of pillows and cushions gathered on the huge bed.

She watched as Xenia got off the bed and strode over to a table near the fire.

Anyone who had only seen her standing in her eyrie, glowering over her domain might have been surprised by her easy grace and light tread.

Kassandra had seen her fight though, and consequently the first time they had slept together she had been impressed but unsurprised by Xenia’s elegance and controlled power.

Reaching the table Xenia cast an eye over the plates of food that had been laid out for them.

Early that morning, seeing the Adrestia drawing close to shore she had sent word that food and drink should be prepared for that evening and a small fire laid in anticipation of a night spent naked with Kassandra in her arms.

She poured a cup of wine for herself and turned to face the bed, leaning back against the edge of the sturdy table.

“You’re smiling?” she could just make out Kassandra’s fond expression in the dim light.

“At you, my sweet,” Kassandra looped her powerful arms about her knees. “You are magnificent in the firelight.”

Xenia laughed and drained the cup, turning to refill it and then reaching for a pastry.

“Are you hungry? There are those little pie things you like,” she bit into it and chewed thoughtfully. “And they aren’t apple for once.”

“Not right now,” Kassandra shook her head. “Probably later.”

She looked far away again.

Xenia ate the other half of the pastry and selected another.

She ate quietly knowing that it was best to approach slowly and gently when Kassandra got lost in her own head like this.

Topping up the cup she strode back to the bed and carefully clambered in next to her lover, offering her the wine as she settled herself in close so their bodies touched comfortingly.

“Thank you,” Kassandra took a sip and hummed appreciatively. “Gods! You always have the best wine.”

“It’s a perk of the job,” Xenia said with a smile. "Like how you always turn up with dried up old bits of animals in your pack.”

Kassandra shoved her shoulder playfully.

“I have to shift for myself out in the wilds,” she explained, “and you never know when a piece of antler is going to come in useful.”

“Yes, I imagine the nights can be long and lonely, and you have to make do,” Xenia said with mock solemnity and received another nudge in the shoulder for it.

They sat quietly, sharing the wine and listening to the faint crackling of the fire.

Eventually Xenia sensed that Kassandra had relaxed enough for her to broach a question.

“May I ask you about what happened earlier,” she said softly. “Why did you suddenly think of your mother, right then?”

Kassandra took a couple of slow, audible breaths before answering.

“It was something you said. I...I had heard my mater say almost exactly the same thing to someone else.”

Xenia cast about for what she’d said, but couldn’t think of anything obvious.

It couldn’t have been the Pegasus comment surely?

“She...she told someone they were beautiful?” she ventured.

“What? No. Well probably, but that wasn’t what I heard,” Kassandra rolled the nearly empty cup between her palms.

“I stumbled in on her fucking someone,” she blurted, suddenly seeing a vivid image of her mother and Timo entangled together.

“Ah, I see,” Xenia considered her next words carefully. “Well, as I said she is a very attractive woman. Like mother, like daughter, after all.”

Kassandra gave her a warning glance.

“Surely it must have occurred to you that she would have lovers?”

“I can’t say I ever gave much thought to my mater fucking,” Kassandra shook her head and drained the last drops of wine.

“Most of us don’t, but many of them do,” Xenia took the empty cup and climbed out of bed, walking over to the table to refill it.

She picked through a shallow basket of fruit in search of the ripest figs.

“What were they like?” she turned to face Kassandra and seeing her frown, elaborated. “The one she was fucking, did you know them?”

“It was a woman,” Kassandra looked down at her feet. “Her general, Timo.”

“Were you shocked?,” Xenia asked around a mouthful of fruit, and walked to the bed.

“Well...yes, I...I wasn’t expecting it,” Kassandra cast her mind back to the night in question.

“I mean I wasn’t shocked by it being a woman, I was just shocked it was...well that it was _anyone_ I suppose.”

“I’m pleased to hear it,” Xenia handed her the cup of wine and climbed back in beside her.

“It would have been a little hypocritical to be shocked about it being a woman,” Kassandra took a sip.

“Mmm,” Xenia wrapped an arm about her shoulders, easing her in close. “More than a little. I would have had to give you a stern talking to.”

“Really?”, Kassandra gave her a sidelong glance. “ _How_ stern?”

“ _Quite_ stern,” Xenia smiled. “And I’m storing that away for future reference” she tapped her temple. “So what is this Timo like?”

“Timo? Younger than mater, pretty, serious,” she felt Xenia chuckling next to her. “You didn’t mean that?”

“No, but it’s good to know Myrrine’s type,” she teased. “Young and pretty.”

“Compact also,” Kassandra gave her lover a nudge, “so her tastes clearly aren’t set in stone. She was brave, determined, devoted to mater. She would have been a valuable crew member.”

“Did she die?” Xenia asked softly.

“No,” Kassandra swirled the wine in her cup thoughtfully. “She left her behind, on Naxos, without a second glance.”

Xenia said nothing, but nodded slightly.

She didn’t seem surprised Kassandra realised.

“I asked her if we should bring her with us. Ask her to join the crew. I was thinking about them really, the two of them. But Timo would have earned her keep, she was a brave fighter.”

Kassandra cast her mind back to that day on the dock.

To Timo’s face.

Her courageous attempt to control her expression as she walked away. The way her shoulders slumped and her whole posture melted as soon as she thought she was a safe distance away.

Her mother’s total lack of understanding when Kassandra had asked if the young general should join them.

“She had no idea why I was asking,” she said, almost to herself.

“She said Timo was a safe pair of hands, that she would be most use to her governing Naxos. And that was it. My mater has a way of grabbing the conversation by the throat and choking the life out of it. I don’t know if you noticed that?” she glanced up.

Xenia laughed heartily.

“Oddly enough, I did,” she accepted the wine cup from Kassandra. “In her defense she was probably right though. After all your efforts, leaving Naxos in the grip of an internal power struggle would have been...unwise. And wasteful too if she had been grooming Timo for such a situation.”

“I know. I tried to see it like that, but...I saw the way Timo looked at her, Xenia. Her face that day on the dock when my mother...just gave her her orders. Without so much as an embrace. She could have shown her a small kindness.”

She sat quietly for a while, arms clasped about her raised knees.

“I think she broke Timo’s heart there on the dock. And just a couple of days earlier she’d been lying on top of her, calling her “my sweet”.”

Xenia said nothing for a moment but Kassandra felt her body tense.

Silence sat between them for a while then the pirate took a loud, deep breath and clambered out of the bed, rocking Kassandra sideways a little as she stood.

“Not the first heart your mother has broken, and I don’t suppose she’ll be the last,” she strode back over to the table.

“We’re nearly out of wine,” she observed, refilling the cup.

“Xenia...I...” Kassandra began softly, shifting to look at her lover.

“I will get more,” Xenia strode to the door and flung it open, naked and unembarrassed.

Kassandra sat, guiltily examining her hands and listening to the low conversation outside.

Heavy, rapid footfalls suggested someone running off to fill Xenia’s request.

Silence fell as she waited, a log collapsed into the fire with a cascade of bright sparks.

That had been insensitive, Kassandra reflected sadly.

She had been happy and excited to see Xenia again after so long. Judging by the immediate warmth of her greeting, sweeping Kassandra up into her powerful arms and spinning her around, clean off her feet, the feeling was mutual.

Not half an hour ago they had been together in bed, linked as intimately as two people could be.

And now they were on opposite sides of the room separated by a melancholy of Kassandra’s conjuring.

Xenia returned, holding another jug of wine in one hand, the wine cup in the other. She placed them both on the table, and stood with her back to the bed.

“Xenia, I’m sorry,” she began.

“No more apologising tonight, little one,” Xenia gave a sigh.

She turned to face Kassandra, leaning back against the table and giving her a sad smile.

“Did you ask your mother how she felt about Timo? Did you tell her you had seen them together?”

“Gods no!” Kassandra gave a humourless laugh. “Can you imagine? I’ll give you a moment to imagine it. Go ahead, I’ll wait.”

Xenia grinned broadly and shook her head.

“I don’t doubt that Timo loved your mother,” she said quietly after a pause. "She can be very charismatic. And you know by now how single minded she is. When she has decided on a course of action Zeus himself could not sway her. I’m sure she had an eye to a successor, that “safe pair of hands”, and who better than an impressionable, devoted young warrior? And what better way to cement that devotion than in the bedroom? I imagine she genuinely didn’t understand what you were asking her. She had intended that to be Timo’s role if the situation ever arose. Perhaps her “small kindness” should have been informing Timo of her plans?”

Kassandra retreated into her thoughts again, clasping her knees and frowning to herself.

Xenia allowed her to brood for a few moments then stood upright.

“Kassandra,” she began softly. “Sometimes the labyrinths we construct up here,” she tapped her forehead, “can be far more dangerous than any we build out of stone. Do not get lost in _your_ labyrinth looking for your mother.”

“You loved her?” Kassandra said softly, just loud enough for Xenia to hear. It wasn’t even a question really.

“I loved your mother as well as I could and for as long as she would permit it,” Xenia said sadly. “And I choose to believe that for a little while at least she loved me, after her fashion.”

Kassandra sensed something unspoken and potentially dangerous stretching out between them.

The tension was becoming painful, she ached to break it, but lacked the courage.

Xenia was braver. She padded softly over to the bed and sat beside Kassandra, reaching out to trace the sharp lines of her cheekbones with the back of a finger.

“West Wind,” she breathed. “I know this thing between us will never be more than it is now. But I will love you as well as I can for as long as I am able. Is it possible that you could love me...after your fashion?”

Kassandra couldn’t meet her eyes for a moment, and when she spoke her voice was uncharacteristically thick.

“I searched so hard for her, Xenia,” she whispered shakily. “And now I’ve found her it’s as though I don’t know who she is most of the time. But then sometimes I see myself in her so clearly. And I don’t know which scares me more.”

She turned away and hugged her knees again, curling in on herself.

Xenia said nothing, reaching out carefully and rubbing gentle, comforting circles on Kassandra’s back, feeling her muscles twitch defensively at first and then relax.

“I don’t want to be my mother, Xenia,” she whispered at last, her breath hitching. “And I want to love you better than she did.”

She turned to Xenia with a look of such cautious hopefulness that the pirate found her throat constricting painfully.

She kept her hand on Kassandra’s back and gently, carefully applied a little pressure. She invited her into her embrace as tentatively as if she were taming a wild animal.

There was a brief pause.

Xenia’s heart seemed to stop in her chest and she held her breath.

The space between them was mere inches but it felt as wide as the Aegean.

Then Kassandra closed the distance.

She leaned into Xenia’s embrace, wrapping her arms about her lover’s thick waist, resting her head against her powerful shoulder. Taking a shuddering breath, she allowed herself to be comforted.

Xenia pressed a kiss to the crown of her head and breathed in the warm scent of her.

“Just the fact that we have had this conversation means you already do,” she began to stroke her hair.

It was not the reunion either of them had imagined, but there were days ahead for that.

Tonight, it was perhaps just the reunion they needed.

**Author's Note:**

> The "romances" in Odyssey are such skeletal structures that I think you can do pretty much what you like to expand on them. Reading between the lines, it seemed to me that everyone Kassandra probes for info about her mother speaks sort of wistfully about her at some point. I also find myself side eyeing Myrrine as a sound parental figure. This is the result.


End file.
